Preview: Olek and Parra at Jonathan LeVine Gallery

This Saturday, New York’s Jonathan LeVine Gallery will debut two solo shows: “The End is Far” by risque crochet artist Olek and “Tracy Had a Bad Sunday” from Pop Art-inspired provocateur Parra (featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 24). After a dispute with a male patron at a London bar escalated, Olek was placed on house arrest in 2011. This dark experience motivated the artist and led to a highly prolific year: She traveled the world to work on international projects and commissions, collaborating with other female artists from Brazil, Hong Kong and Poland. The new works in “The End is Far” are inspired by these trying times; Olek took to bold, graphic imagery and symbolism to incite a dialogue on female power and justice. The exhibition will be accompanied by a live performance during the opening reception.

For his new body of work “Tracy Had a Bad Sunday,” Parra will present a new series of works on paper and canvas as well as new ceramic sculptures. Playing with the tension between the eerie and the seductive, Parra translates his voluptuous protagonists to various media in bold colors and graphic compositions. Part animal and part human, Parra’s surreal creatures test sexual boundaries as they reel the viewer’s mind from temptation to repulsion. Take a look at our previews of the two shows, images courtesy of Jonathan LeVine Gallery.